It is known in the art of communication networks for a plurality of nodes to be connected together by a communication link over which the nodes communicate by sending and/or receiving data. The link may be connected to the nodes in a shared (or bus) topology and/or a sequence of separate point-to-point links (or ring or unshared) topology. With a shared topology, data on the link is accessible by each of the nodes connected to the link, and any one of the nodes may communicate with any other node connected to the shared link. However, in a ring or unshared topology, only certain predetermined nodes can communicate with each other with unshared data while other nodes are precluded from communicating or even listening to the unshared data. A system which utilizes both a shared and an unshared topology is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/772,036 filed Dec. 12, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,957, entitled "Automatic Node Configuration with Identical Nodes", filed contemporaneously herewith.
However, utilizing such a dual communication architecture may require one set of bus wires connected to each of the nodes for providing a shared communication bus, and a separate set of wires connected between specifically designated groups of nodes which communicate with each other on the unshared link. Such double sets of wiring can be costly and time consuming to install in new and existing systems.